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Sunday Mass at Annunciation: ‘When the darkness is most intense, that’s when the light of God shines all the more brightly’

The faithful followed the sound of bagpipes playing “Amazing Grace” as they headed to Mass at Annunciation school in Minneapolis Aug. 31. They came from all directions; some walked by boarded-up stained glass windows that were shattered at the parish church next door, when a gunman opened fire on an all-school Mass the morning of Aug. 27. The shooter killed two students — 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski — and wounded 15 other students and three adults at the elementary school.
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Pope Leo XIV waves to visitors and pilgrims in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Aug. 31, 2025, before leading the recitation of the Angelus prayer. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Pope prays for Minneapolis victims, denounces ‘pandemic’ of gun violence

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Leo XIV, praying publicly for the victims of the school shooting in Minneapolis, also prayed for an end to the "pandemic" of gun violence.
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Sunday Mass at Annunciation: ‘When the darkness is most intense, that’s when the light of God shines all the more brightly’

The faithful followed the sound of bagpipes playing “Amazing Grace” as they headed to Mass at Annunciation school in Minneapolis Aug. 31. They came from all directions; some walked by boarded-up stained glass windows that were shattered at the parish church next door, when a gunman opened fire on an all-school Mass the morning of Aug. 27. The shooter killed two students — 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski — and wounded 15 other students and three adults at the elementary school.
Pope Leo XIV waves to visitors and pilgrims in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Aug. 31, 2025, before leading the recitation of the Angelus prayer. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Pope prays for Minneapolis victims, denounces ‘pandemic’ of gun violence

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Leo XIV, praying publicly for the victims of the school shooting in Minneapolis, also prayed for an end to the "pandemic" of gun violence.
From left, Mallory O’Brien and her family, Mollie, Finley, Conor, Emmett, and husband, Sean, at Annunciation school’s playground after the Aug. 30 Mass. The O’Briens said the parish will recover after the Aug. 27 shooting. JOE RUFF  | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

O’Brien family at Annunciation: Even stronger as a community after church shooting

Sean and Mallory O’Brien gently guided their four young children through the first parish Mass at Annunciation in Minneapolis since an Aug. 27 church shooting at an all-school Mass shattered the community.
Father Dennis Zehren, pastor of Annunciation parish in Minneapolis, participated in the Aug. 27 prayer service at the Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield, only hours after a shooting at an all-school Mass at Annunciation killed two children and injured more than a dozen more people. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Annunciation pastor Father Zehren: ‘If I could have got between those bullets’

For the first time since the Aug. 27 attack by a gunman who killed two children and wounded 15 more at an all-school Mass where he was presiding, Father Dennis Zehren publicly described his attempt to save the children.
Father Dennis Zehren, pastor of Annunciation in Minneapolis, and Archbishop Bernard Hebda talk with the media at the parish school Aug. 30, before the first Mass for the parish since the Aug. 27 shooting at an all-school Mass at the now-desecrated church next door. JOE RUFF  |  THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Annunciation pastor: First parish Mass after church shooting is a ‘humble beginning’

Recalling the fear and the cries from students, parents and school staff to “get low, stay down, stay down, don’t get up” as bullets tore through Annunciation church at an all-school Mass in Minneapolis, Father Denniz Zehren, the pastor, said it marked a new beginning.
From left at an Aug. 28 interfaith prayer service in the wake of a Catholic church shooting in Minneapolis, are faith leaders Metropolitan Nathanael of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago, Deacon Luke Twito of St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church in Minneapolis, Bishop Kevin Kenney, Bishop Michael Izen and Chorbishop Sharbel Maroun of St. Maron Maronite Catholic Church in Minneapolis. They joined Johan von Parys, the Basilica of St. Mary’s director of liturgy and the sacred arts, and Archbishop Bernard Hebda, and others at the Basilica in Minneapolis. JOE RUFF  |  THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Archbishop Hebda leads interfaith prayer service in Minneapolis in wake of church shooting

Jewish, Muslim, Greek Orthodox and Maronite Catholic faith leaders joined Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Bishops Michael Izen and Kevin Kenney for an interfaith prayer service Aug. 28 at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.
Holy Family

Grace of a happy death — and new life

Many rosary devotees may ponder the grace of a happy death — one of my favorite reflections is the fourth glorious mystery — the Assumption of Mary. Just a couple of weeks ago we celebrated that Church dogma as a holy day of obligation. And just a week after that came the Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Limbo

How low can you go?

Limbo is a game based on traditions that began on the island of Trinidad. The goal of the game is to pass under a horizontal bar (known as the limbo bar) as it is lowered. Contestants must bend backward and allow no part of their body to touch the bar while only their feet can touch the floor or ground. Sometimes, people will chant “how low can you go!” as the bar is lowered bit by bit. Fun fact, the world record for the lowest limbo bar height is 6 inches, set by Dennis Walston in 1991. Ha! He must have been really flexible and really skinny! How low can you go?
A file photo shows a family praying during Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington.

What a beautiful family

Whenever I take my kids anywhere in public, I get comments. "All boys?! Didn't you ever try for a girl?" "Five?! You must be crazy!" "Are they all yours?"
Jesus preaching

Jesus’ kingdom announcement

In the past few columns, we’ve looked at figures around the time of Jesus who were expecting “the kingdom”: the Maccabees, other zealots and revolutionaries, and even Mary and Zechariah. These figures, I’ve suggested, pointed, in different ways, to a new socio-political order that would fulfill Israel’s vocation to be “the light of the world.”
Archbishop Bernard Hebda blesses those who attended the prayer service at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul Aug. 28. JOSH MCGOVERN  |  THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Bishops offer solace at Cathedral of St. Paul prayer service in wake of Annunciation shooting

A police car was parked outside the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul at noon Aug. 28, as people walked through the open doors to participate in an ecumenical prayer service mourning the victims of the Aug. 27 church shooting at Annunciation in Minneapolis. After the prayer service, Archbishop Hebda stood in the middle of the Cathedral, shaking hands as people exited and comforting those in tears.
Faith
Limbo

How low can you go?

Limbo is a game based on traditions that began on the island of Trinidad. The goal of the game is to pass under a horizontal bar (known as the limbo bar) as it is lowered. Contestants must bend backward and allow no part of their body to touch the bar while only their feet can touch the floor or ground. Sometimes, people will chant “how low can you go!” as the bar is lowered bit by bit. Fun fact, the world record for the lowest limbo bar height is 6 inches, set by Dennis Walston in 1991. Ha! He must have been really flexible and really skinny! How low can you go?

God of mercy, God of justice

The priest as spiritual father

Commentary
Holy Family

Grace of a happy death — and new life

Many rosary devotees may ponder the grace of a happy death — one of my favorite reflections is the fourth glorious mystery — the Assumption of Mary. Just a couple of weeks ago we celebrated that Church dogma as a holy day of obligation. And just a week after that came the Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

What a beautiful family

Jesus’ kingdom announcement

Why I am Catholic
Practicing Catholic

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